Pouring
by Annie Lune
Summary: “I want you to realize that one day I’m not going to be here, and you’re probably going to wonder why. It’s because of this, Grissom. This ‘thing’ that you can’t deal with. And this thing is me." - WIP -
1. Part I

**Disclaimer**: I want to find the guy that owns CSI, and them maybe marry his son. Then I could semi-own them. Yes, that sounds like a plan…and when whoever does own them dies, he can leave them to me in his will! Then I will be free to do whatever I want with the CSI!  

**Spoilers**: Nope 

**A Note**: this is purely because I needed to write something. I don't know where this is going, so be prepared for anything. 

*a.l. 

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It was raining in Vegas and it seemed to reflect the mood Gil Grissom wore. Dreary, tired, inert, dismal … all qualities that he had inherited from his job. He could hear the rain though the roof of the crime lab and it seemed to play a sweet melody for his mind. The soft pitter-patter soothed his senses and he almost wished it wouldn't stop. Not only for the fact that he was enjoying it, but because it is likely that less people will be murdered in the rain, which meant that he could spend the entire night here instead of gallivanting all over Vegas. 

Or at least that is what Grissom could hope. 

He heard footsteps and he swiveled in his chair to look out the door. Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown were walking by and they wore smiles on their faces. Grissom could only speculate about what they were so happy about. Maybe they had just solved the case he had put them on two days ago, or maybe someone had told a funny joke? Before Grissom could think of anything else to explain their mood, Nick Stokes came running over to the two of them to join in, and now they were all laughing. Grissom watched in awe as the three CSIs stood there laughing in the middle of the hallway. It brought a smile to his face seeing them happy, but something wasn't right with the picture…something was missing. 

The three of them turned away from Grissom's office and continued down the hall in the opposite direction. They then turned the corner and were out of his sight. Grissom wondered where they were going as he turned back around in his chair to look at his back wall. His whole life seemed to be collected here. Pictures of him shaking people's hands, documents and degrees; even a rare Australian butterfly that one of his friends had sent him. On this wall, everything seemed to make sense. But out there…

Grissom swiveled again to look out the door. Something was bothering him; he just couldn't place his finger on it. It was raining outside, no new cases had come in, and his CSIs were happy. What was tugging at his heart then? He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what piece to the puzzle was missing, and when he opened them, Sara Sidle stood in the hallway in front of his office. 

That's what had been bothering him. He hadn't seen Sara yet. She hadn't been in the break room at the beginning of shift, and she wasn't in the hall laughing with the rest of this crew. She stood there wearing a pair of dark jeans and a dark purple top. Her hair was down as usual and she wore a somber look on her face. "Slow night huh?" she said as she walked over and leaned on Grissom's door frame. She had tried to sound cheerful, but it had come out depressed. 

"Killings in the rain don't leave much evidence. Isn't this good then?" Grissom said as he looked at Sara. She slowly nodded her head.

 "What's wrong?" Grissom asked after a moment of silence had passed between the two of them. "I saw the others in the hall wall laughing and you weren't with them." 

"Oh." Sara said as she cast a look towards the ground. "Nick and Warrick were joking about some game…I don't know really. I wasn't paying attention." She shrugged her shoulders and looked back up at Grissom. 

"Now how about you tell me what's wrong with _you_?" Grissom asked knowing that he was sailing into dangerous waters with this question. 

"Does something always have to be wrong with me? Maybe I'm just an abnormal person." Sara replied halfheartedly. 

"Sara, you're not an abnormal person." Grissom said smiling hoping that Sara would smile back. She didn't. "But there _is _something wrong. Why don't you tell me?"

"Because telling you won't do anything." She sharply responded. "I can tell you all I want and it still won't move me from the rock, or the hard place." 

"What do you mean?" Grissom said leaning forward in his chair and talking his glasses off his face. 

"It means that I'm in this mood and there is nothing that can be done to change it. I've begun to really think about my life, Grissom, and I think I need to move on with it and get over this whole thing. I can't believe my stubbornness sometimes." Sara shook her head in disgrace and made a move to turn away from the door. 

"Wait, Sara, just don't go. Please, explain to me what you mean."

Sara stared at Grissom for a moment. "I mean that I've been blinded by too many things in my life. I've let my self get carried away by feelings that I have. Certain cases affect me and I let them play with my head. Certain people affect me and they not only play with my head, but my heart also."  

"I'm sorry that you feel that way."

"You should be. You're half of the reason for it." Sara snapped back.

"Sara, please, what is wrong? You appear in my door and suddenly all of this just comes pouring out. What is this all about?" Grissom said trying to process what Sara was telling him. 

"This is about so many things that I have kept bottled up inside of me for too long."

Grissom expected Sara to go on, and when she didn't, he felt perplexed. "What do you mean?" he finally asked. 

"Fine. You really want to know Grissom? I am so frustrated with all of this." Sara waved her hand in the air motioning to everything around her.

"With all of what, Sara?" 

"THIS!" she practically screamed. "My co-workers, I feel like I am the outsider of the group. You saw Nick, Cath and Warrick laughing, right? Well maybe I wasn't with them because they didn't include me in on their joke. No, not 'serious Sara', never." She paused and took in a deep breath, trying to collect some strength to go on. "And then there is you. One day you are treating me like a normal human being and the next I am scum on the top of the pound. This has got to change Grissom. A rock and a hard place. I feel like I am wedged so tight between the two that one of them is going to crush me."

Grissom stared at her with confusion for a second, "Scum? Sara, I don't treat you like scum." He finally said. Immediately after he wished he had chosen his words more wisely. 

 "Yes you do, and you know it. You second guess what I say, you give me crap jobs to do when you know I can do a whole lot better, and you never seem to acknowledge my presence. Ever." Sara could feel the fury building up inside of her. "Do you know how long I was standing outside your door before you realized I was there?" she didn't give him time to answer. "Ten minutes Grissom. Ten minutes wasted from my life that I spent waiting for _you_. And that's just tonight. Let's not count all of the hours and days that I have spent waiting for you to open you eyes and notice me."

"I didn't see you there." Grissom stammered. He couldn't believe that a friendly question such as 'what's wrong?' could turn into this. He should have known to expect something like that from Sara. 

"See? You _never_ see me. I could stand in front of your house on fire wearing nothing but a smile and you still wouldn't look my way. You're always concerned with Warrick, or Catherine, or even Nick. Never Sara. And the three of them aren't any better. They just walked right by me without out even saying 'hi.' I might as well be invisible." Sara paused and looked straight at Grissom's face. "I guess I might have brought this on myself trying to be self-sufficient, but at the end of the day I am still lonely." Sara looked away from Grissom for the first time during the conversation. She could feel a silent tear falling down her face and she didn't want Grissom to see it. 

 "So if you want to know what this is about, it's about the fact that I have kept everything inside of me for too long. Now it is all just going to pour out. This is my breaking point Grissom. You could even blame it on the rain, or the fact that I have been sitting in the lab for the past hour. You can even blame it on the shirt Nick is wearing for all I care, but I knew this was going to happen. I just didn't know when. I've now stepped over the line of no return." Sara bit her lip trying to hold back the rest of the tears that she knew were coming. 

"Is there anything I can do?" Grissom asked in a whisper. 

"You should have done something a long time ago, Grissom." Sara snapped back, still not looking at him. 

"I'm sorry." He replied. He stood up and made his way over to her, but she back away. "What do you want me to do?" he asked realizing that Sara wasn't going to forgive him that easy.

"I want you to realize that one day I'm not going to be here, and you're probably going to wonder why. It's because of _this_, Grissom. This 'thing' that you can't deal with. And this thing is _me_. So, you know what? I'm going to do something about it...." she replied and turned back to look at him. Her eyes were now glossy from the tears that she was trying to hide. Sara looked at him, her gaze lingering for a moment, and then she turned away and walked out of the room.  

Grissom stood there wondering if he was ever going to see Sara back in his office again. 

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So…what do you think? I'm open for any and all suggestions on what to do now. I've got a pretty good idea about where the story is going to end up, but I still have yet to write it. So please send some of those reviews my way. :-D

*a.l. 

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	2. Part II

Thanks _so_ much for the reviews guys. They are greatly appreciated and keep me writing, so keep them coming!

Okay, I now know where this story is going to go.  Not to give anything away yet, but **Whispering Winds**, great minds think alike [but I'm also thinking _just_ a little bit _differently_…8-) hehe]

And let's see if I can tell you some more without giving everything else that I am plotting away…so…**adpi24 **you might end up happy too. 

*a.l. 

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Sara could barely open her door she was shaking so badly. She somehow managed to shove the thing open, but she then couldn't bring her self to walk inside. It was as if her feet were too heavy to step over the thresh hold of her apartment. But Sara knew she had to; she had to move on.

As she walked down to her room, she drooped everything that she had been holding tightly in her hands; her purse, her gun, her coat, her cell phone…they were now all scattered across the hallway, but Sara didn't care. She staggered into her room and collapsed on the bed without even bothering to change out of her clothes. That was a small detail and it was going to have to wait. 

Sara took a few deep breaths and pulled the covers up over her head. It was as if she was trying to hide from everything underneath them. Sara buried her self down towards the bottom, now breathing in the hot heavy air. What had caused her life to comet to this? The point in which she mentally (and a little bit physically, too) breaks down at work, realizes that she hates it there, hates the people there (or at least a good portion of them), and is now at home hiding under her covers? 

From out in the hall, she heard her cell phone go off.  Sara had a pretty good feeling she knew who it was. If she had enough strength she would have gotten up and tried to flush the stupid thing down the toilet. 

Thousands of thoughts were racing through Sara's head trying to figure out how this had all come pouring out. She was willing to admit that this week had been quite hard on her, but it had also been hard on everyone else. Monday had been a murder-suicide done by the husband. Tuesday had been a rape and the girl had been left for dead.  By the time they arrived at the scene she was barely clinging to life. Wednesday had been paperwork until four in the morning and Sara had finally just collapsed on the table and slept until the end of shift.  Thursday had been two dead bodies, one woman and her child, and they had already convicted the husband. Now it was Friday and Sara was trying really hard not to let these cases get to her, but they already had. Seeing those poor innocent people being killed night after night had taken a toll on her. 

Sara rolled over onto her side and stuck her head out from under the covers. She had to do something about all of this. This was no way to live a life, especially hers. When she was fresh out of college she had so many options. Going to an Ivy League school meant that people were practically sitting on her doorstep just so she could come and work for them. So why exactly had she chosen forensic science? And then like a ton of bricks it hit her exactly why. 

This was all because of the fact that Grissom had to come to Harvard to do a lecture on his stupid bugs. If he had never come, Sara would have never have met him, she would have never have fallen for him way back then, never realized that his career fascinated her, never chosen to peruse forensic science, never gone to San Francisco and then never called to Las Vegas to help him out. It made her feel a little bit better knowing that she could blame all of her problems on Grissom, but made the whole thing a lot worse because he _was_ all of her problems. 

Sara now threw the covers off herself and lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling. She needed a vacation. No, not a vacation, a leave of absence. She turned to her right to see how her last threat of leaving had turned out, and she was quite surprised that the plant was actually still alive. For a while Sara had stopped watering the plan, hoping that the thing would die a slow and painful death and with that her feelings for Grissom too; But no, the thing was still alive and thriving. She wished she could flush _that_ thing down the toilet right now. 

Deep down inside Sara knew she couldn't threaten to leave again because it would end up the same way; Grissom letting her know just a little bit that he cared, and Sara would get weak in the knees and forget about everything she needed and stay. She realized that the only thing she could really do was get up and go, just leave and not look. But where, and how and would she then ever come back to Vegas? 

The sound of her phone ringing woke Sara from her thoughts. She knew it was never going to stop unless she did something. Sara staggered down the hall and picked her phone up off the floor. Because she was the curious sort, she flipped it open and looked at the caller. GRISSOM was spelled out across the top. Sara considered pressing the talk button and giving him an ear full, but she was already so drained and didn't think she could handle it. Instead she flipped her phone closed and placed it in the refrigerator. At least she couldn't hear the ringing anymore. 

Sara walked over and slumped down on the couch. She had to get away from this place, if even for a day. She had to go somewhere to take her mind off everything that was happening here. But the thing is, Sara couldn't just leave. It would be too obvious. She practically lived at the lab and for her to just stop showing up would be really obvious and people would ask questions that she wouldn't want to answer. What if she slowly disappeared like a cloud disappearing after a storm? Coming in hard at first and then slowly letting up until no one even noticed the cloud was gone? And when someone did finally realize that she was gone, it would be too late?

Then, everything began to work out in Sara's head. She would go to work tomorrow as usual, and then by the next day she would hang back a little more; go home early, not using any more over time. She would continue this for the week until she was practically not there at all. By this time next Friday she would be spending a bare minimum at the lab and she had next Saturday off. Sara decided she would disappear Saturday. 

Her stomach now growled and Sara realized that she hadn't had anything to eat since before shift. Sara stood up and made her way to her kitchenette. What she really felt like was some pizza, but Sara was in no mood to call for some and then wait an hour for it to be delivered. Instead she opened the fridge only to find the phone still ringing. 

Sara took the phone in her hand, ready to chuck it across the room, when instead she opened it expecting to see Grissom's number again. Instead she saw Nick's. She might as well talk to him; she could use someone to talk to right now. 

"Sidle" Sara half barked into the phone.

"Sara?" Came Nick's voice from the other end, "Is that you?"

"No, sorry, wrong number." She said sarcastically. "Of course it's me Nick. What do you want?" 

"I got nervous after I heard you go stomping out of Grissom's office. I tried to talk to him, but he just shut the door in my face. What was that all about?" Nick asked in a worried tone. Sara knew he cared about her; he was her best friend. 

"I just needed to let some things pour out Nick, and I did exactly that." Sara walked over and sat down on the couch, curling up into a tight ball. 

"Are you okay now?" He asked, his voice still filled with concern. "Do you want me to come over there, or go beat Grissom up?"  

Sara laughed. If only Nick could go beat Grissom up for her. She knew he was only saying it as a joke, but Sara whished what he was saying could be true. "No, No, Nick. I'm…" Sara knew she wanted to tell Nick that she was okay, but she just couldn't bring her self to lie anymore. She wasn't okay. "I'm just going to spend some time alone." She then replied. That was the truth. Sara was going to spend a lot of time alone now. 

"Will you be back to work tomorrow? Two cases just came in and we're kind of down a CSI right now." He said referring to the fact that Sara was now at home. 

"Yah. I guess I'll be back tomorrow. Sorry about that. I think I just need some time to wind down." Sara said with sadness in her voice. She could really care less about the fact that they needed her right now. When she was there they didn't seem to notice her, but once she was gone the realized that she carried a lot of weight, and now it was going to be split up among the four remaining people there. This meant that they were now all going to be grumpy and mad at her for just running out. Serves them right, Sara thought, they could use the extra work anyway. 

"Well, if you're sure your going to be fine…"

"I'm fine Nick. Really. Go back to whatever you were doing and stop worrying about me." Sara said. Nick said his goodbye and Sara ended their phone conversation. She looked at the phone in her hand, and threw it back to the floor. She then buried her head into her knees as she felt more tears coming on. 

Then, Sara stopped crying suddenly. In one week this will all be behind me, she thought silently. That alone gave her strength to get up off the couch. Now she had the rest of the day all to her self, and what was she going to do? Sara thought for a moment, and then walked off towards the bathroom where she was going to go take a bubble bath. If nothing else, the bubbles would make her smile some more. 

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	3. Part III

I am so sorry about the long wait for the next chapter. It's, uh, a very long story…

But, tah-dah! Here it is! And remember, reviews are always welcome 8-)

*a.l. 

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Grissom was more than surprised to see Sara the next day at work, and she was smiling. He was passing by the break room on his way to his office when he noticed her sitting on the couch reading a book. Maybe she had forgiven him already? She seemed pretty happy to be sitting all alone in the room. Grissom pushed open the door to the break room, but Sara didn't look up to acknowledge his presence until he was standing right in front of her. 

"Sara?" he asked quietly looking down at her.

"What?" she said not looking up from her books. 

"I was just wondering…" But Grissom couldn't go on because at that moment Nick came bursting in the room. 

"Sara!" He called as he made his way over to the couch and sat down next to her. "Good to have you back." He threw his arm around her and pulled her in for a hug. 

"Thanks." She unenthusiastically mumbled giving Nick a smile. Nick noticed this strange mood and turned his head to face her. She in turn, turned to look at him, and even though she was now smiling, he could still see pain and hurt in her eyes. 

"Is something wrong?" Nick asked quietly as if he didn't want Grissom to hear. But Grissom was standing right over the two of them and he would have to be deaf not to hear Nick. 

"I'm _fine_." Sara responded though clenched teeth. Nick removed his arm from around her shoulder and she leaned away from him. 

"No, Sara…something is-" Nick opened his mouth to question what was wrong with her once again, but Catherine came breezing into the room and he held back. 

"Can I have a case?" Catherine asked as she made her way into the room, totally ignoring what was going on between Grissom, Sara and Nick. 

"Yah, you and Sara are on a 419 at a breaking and entering." He said handing Catherine the case folder. "Nick, since Warrick was at court today he's got the day off, so it's you and me with two 419s on some back alleyway."

"Sounds good to me." Catherine replied walking out of the room. "Come on Sara, I'm driving." 

Sara stood up to leave, "Of course you're driving." She muttered to her self, hoping that no one would hear her. Nick did though, and he watched her leave the room.  Sara was suddenly all tense. Her face tightened into a scowl as she walked down the hallway, but then suddenly as if she had put on a mask, it disappeared and a smile appeared. 

"Are you going to come?" Grissom asked Nick. He stood in the doorway waiting for Nick to follow. 

"What happened between you and Sara?" He instead asked. 

"Excuse me?" Grissom replied. Something told him that he wasn't going to arrive at the scene as soon as he had hoped to. 

"Don't tell me you're as blind as you are deaf." Nick shot back. "Can't you see what's right in front of you?"

"Nick," Grissom asked slowly, "What are you talking about?"

"Sara, Grissom! Can't you see she's not only upset, but also tense and in pain too? Are you that blind?"

"Nick, what happened between Sara and I is none of your business." Grissom replied getting a little fed up with Nick. 

"If it's not my business then I'm going to make it my business. If you're not going to do anything about Sara, then I am, Grissom." Nick said as he made his way to walk out the door and follow her. 

"Nick, stop right there, we have a case to get to!" Grissom shouted at him. 

"Who cares about that case when we have one right here?" Nick spat back as he made his way down the hall. 

"Sara's problems are none of your worries." Grissom yelled down the hall to him. Greg in the lab across the way looked up to see what Grissom was yelling at, but sensing the anger in his voice stayed where he was. 

"Well then they should be yours, Grissom." Nick shot back. "If you don't do anything about her, she's just going to disappear! I can't let that happen to her, even if _you_ can." 

Grissom could take no more and went jogging down the hallway to catch up to Nick. He was not about to let Nick go and find Sara when he was needed on a case with him. "Nick, this is Sara. She's a big girl and she can take care of her self."

"That's the problem here, Grissom, she doesn't know how to. She barely eats or sleeps, and when she gets mad god knows what she'll do sometimes. Someone has to talk to her, and since it is not going to be you, it might as well be me." Nick said turning to look at Grissom. "Do you _not_ care about her?"

Grissom was taken aback by this question. Of course he cared for Sara, but did he care about her in other ways too? "Yes. No…no, I mean, Yes, I do care about her." He finally stammered. 

"Then you aren't going to let this disposition of hers go on any longer. If you care so much about her you should talk to her, and that is exactly what you are going to do. Either you talk to her yourself or I am going to go talk to her now."

Grissom stared at Nick for a moment, trying to figure out if he was serious. Nick glared back at him, his jaw tightly clenched together. Grissom could see that Nick was really worried about her, and that he would do anything to make her happy. This made him nervous to realize that Sara was not only affecting him with how she acted, but Nick too. 

"Fine." Grissom finally breathed. "I'll talk to her when she gets back." 

"You better." Nick replied sternly. "If not, I don't know what's she's going to do." Nick paused for a second and looked over at Grissom. "Look, I know you two had words so I called Sara up after she left. I'm just worried about her, Grissom. She doesn't act, sound or look too good right now. I just don't want her to do anything drastic." 

"I understand, Nick, but can we go to the scene, now?" Grissom asked. Nick shot him a look of loath, but then he nodded his head and followed Grissom out of the lab. 

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"Nick, will you please sit down? You are starting to make me nervous." Catherine asked him from her seat on the break room couch. 

"He hasn't talked to her yet, he isn't going to, and I know it. That –." Nick responded, suddenly getting very angry. 

"Nick, stop right there. Calm down, okay? What, you talked to him yesterday, right? This is Grissom you realize. He doesn't know how to use the small amount of social skills he was given. Give him some time to get the nerve to talk to her." Catherine replied trying to cheer Nick up, but it didn't work. He was still just as angry. 

And if to make him feel any better, Sara, as if on cue, came walking into the room. She looked first at Catherine sitting on the couch, and then at Nick standing right in front of her. "I'm going to head home." She said softly. 

"What? Why?" Nick inquired taking a set towards her.

"I finished what I was working on and I'm beat. I'll see you tomorrow." Sara then turned and walked out of the room. 

"And now he's not going to talk to her today either!" Nick proclaimed as Sara made her way down the hall. "I don't know why he is putting this off like he is. All he has to do is say a few kind words to her, so why can't he??"

"Nick, how about you go home too?" Catherine asked him, "You've finished everything here for the night and you are starting to drive me crazy. Go home and watch some football." 

"Will you talk to Grissom and tell him to talk to Sara?" Nick pleaded with her.

"Fine. I'll do that for you, now you go home."  She replied shooing him out of the room. Nick gave her one of his big Texas grins, and then left the room leaving her all alone. 

Catherine was just beginning to enjoy the peace and quite when Grissom made his entrance, and Catherine looked up casting on him a long gaze.

"What?" he questioned as he made his way to the coffee pot.

"I sent Nick home." She replied as he brought over a cup of Greg's coffee for both of them.

"And when did you become shift supervisor?" he asked half mockingly. 

"Since you stopped caring about your shift." She replied taking a sip. 

"Catherine, don't you start with me too. I know I need to talk to Sara about a few things, and now I probably have to talk to Nick.  Since I am talking to him how about you too? And then Warrick will feel left out, and then of course we can't leave Greg, so how about we all go out together and discuss our relationships with each other?" 

"Don't you take this as a joke, Gil." Catherine said once again casting him a long glance. Grissom turned to look at her. She rarely referred to him by his first name; he we actually quite surprised when anyone called him Gil. 

"I wasn't planning on it." he replied; now looking at her. 

"Good. Now since everyone else has left, I think I should be going too." Catherine took the last sip of her coffee and tossed the cup in the trash. 

"Sure. I'll just handle shift all by my self." Grissom replied shrugging.

"Warrick _is_ here, Grissom. And you _could_ always call Greg." She laughed and then exited the room just like Sara and Nick had done. Grissom scowled for a moment at the thought of having to work a case with Warrick and Greg. That would just make his night _so_ much better. 

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	4. Part IV

Thank you so much for the reviews everyone. I mean, there is nothing more valuable to a writer than having people comment on their work, good or bad (but hopefully good.). A lot of time is put into every story that I write, and I like to see that least one person out there is enjoying it. Thank you again!

*a.l. 

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Sara jumped about five feet when the phone rang. No one ever called her on her home phone. It was always either her cell phone or her pager. For a while she had actually forgotten that she owned a regular cordless. 

"Hello?" she asked into her end, expecting a telemarketer to start jabbing away at any second. 

"Sara?" a voice on the other end asked. 

"Grissom?" Sara practically dropped the clothing and the phone that she was holding in her hands. "Why are you calling me _here_?"

"You're cell phone wasn't on. I know this is your time off, but I need to talk to you." Grissom said quickly, as if someone in the room was timing him with him. He sounded concerned, but Sara knew it was just a fake front. 

"What?" she asked a little annoyed at the fact that Grissom had called her at this time. She had found the one and only travel suitcase that she owned and was in the process of packing it. Sara had laid out all of the shirts that she thought she would need, and was in the process of washing her pants. 

"I'm sorry." Grissom replied trying to put some emotion into his words. 

Sara laughed, "That's great Grissom. Now how about you tell me what you are sorry _about_." 

There was a pause on Grissom's end, and Sara knew he was searching for exactly what she was mad at him about. "You don't even know, do you?" Sara finally spat into her end. "That's just like you, Grissom. Apologizing for something you're not even sure you should be sorry about." Sara took the phone away from her ear and clicked it off. She was now fuming and continued down the hall towards her room. 

Two minutes passed before her phone rang again, and Sara reluctantly walked back out into the hall and picked up the pone. 

"What now?" she barked in. 

"I'm sorry I don't know what I should be sorry about." Grissom replied sheepishly. 

"Apologies are just words, Grissom." Sara replied softly, and now Grissom practically dropped the coffee mug he was holding. Lady Heather had said that same thing to him, and he knew how that whole thing had turned out. 

"Is there anything I can do?" He stammered trying to regain some of his confidence. 

"No, sorry. What's done is done." Sara was in no real mood to be having this discussion with Grissom. She was leaving in two days and there was nothing he could say or do to make her change her mind. Sara was packing enough clothes for at least five days for her destination, and then she would take it from there. Deep down inside Sara knew she would come back to Vegas (at some point. Maybe.), but she didn't want to think about that right now. 

"Sara, I juts wanted to talk to you." 

"And I just wanted you to listen. But we can't always get what we want." 

There was a pause and neither side of the conversation knew what to say next. Sara finally spoke after a few tense moments of silence. 

"Look Grissom, I'm in the middle of stuff here. I'll see you later, okay?" 

"Yah, bye Sara." Sara clicked her side off and placed it back down in the receiver. She stared at it for a moment, as if waiting for it to ring again. But it didn't. Sara heaved a heavy sigh, and walked back to her room. 

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"That lasted less than five minutes." Nick stood in Grissom's doorway looking pretty annoyed. 

"Well what did you want me to do? She said she was busy." Grissom put down the phone and looked up at Nick. "I'll try talking to her later, okay? She and I will take a case together."

"Oh yah, sure, because that's probably just what she wants. Some quality bonding time with the man who could really care less." Nick turned and walked away from Grissom's office.

"Nick!" Grissom called after him, and he turned around. "What is up with you? Suddenly you are all protective of Sara, where did this come from?"

"I've always been this way, Grissom, you just probably never saw it." he replied, folding his hands across his chest. "I'm not going to let anything happen to her, and I'm scared that something might." Nick finally said. 

"I'm not going to let anything happen to her either." Grissom said, but Nick did not look too happy with this reply. 

"I'm not so sure about that." He said turning and walking down the hall.  

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Sara meanwhile, was staring at the phone, wondering if it was going to ring again. She knew Nick had edged Grissom on to call her, and she was wondering if she was now going to be receiving a call from him. Sara really could use to talk to someone. This past week at the lab had passed incredibly fast, mostly because of the lack of time Sara had spent there. She never realized what she could do with just a little bit of free time. Sara hadn't carried on a civilized social conversation with anyone from the lab for a good week now. She did, however, have a nice conversation with the man at the movie theater behind the counter, and the lady she met at the park with the cute little dog. But other than that, no real talks with Nick, or Catherine or anyone else for that matter. 

Sara turned away from the phone and looked at the suitcase that was now on her floor. She couldn't believe that she had actually pulled the first part of her plan off. With some clever thinking, she had moved what she was calling Operation: Cloud into effect. 

Slowly disappearing from the lab had been easy. Sara knew she spent too much time there anyway, so she casually slipped into conversation that she was doing some other stuff this week. At first people wondered what Sara could be doing considering the fact that she rarely did anything extracurricular.  But soon, no one gave Sara's outings another thought. 

For long periods of time this week, Sara had escaped to the locker room, claiming that she was taking a shower, when really she was just reading a good book in there. Yesterday she had spend two hours doing that and no one had noticed that she was gone. The day before that, prior to heading back to the lab after a scene, she had headed to Starbucks. No one seemed to notice that she was spending less and less time there. Well, no one except Greg. He had asked her bluntly where she had been this week because he missed her. If only he knew, Sara had thought. If only he knew…

Sara yawned. She was quite tired and knew that tomorrow was her last "official" day at the lab before she took off. She might as well get a good night's sleep. Then, tomorrow she would transpire the final elements of her plan, and then, well, she hadn't thought about what she was really going to do after that. She knew she was leaving Vegas, that's for sure, but to go where? Even the next town would be a welcomed vacation for her. 

Sara climbed into bed thinking about all the possible places she could go on her unofficial leave of absence. No sooner had she done that that the phone rang. Sara almost instinctively got out of bed and took a few staggered steps forward, and then she stopped. Instead, Sara turned back to her bed and climbed under the covers, letting the ringing phone put her to sleep, a sleep that was greatly welcomed. 

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	5. Part V

Yeah, I'm feeling nice today, so I decided to put up another charter. Hope you enjoy this one as well. 

*a.l. 

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"Do you want fries with that?"

"Do you, Lindsey?" Catherine asked turning to her daughter in the back of the car. 

Lindsay wrinkled her nose for a second, "No. Just my cheeseburger." She girl replied. 

"Nope, that's it." Catherine turned to the teenager working the drive-through window and he handed her the two bags of food. Catherine then forked over five bucks for the fast food, and began to pull away from the window. 

"Oh yah, Mommy, I forgot to tell you, Sara called." Lindsey said as she took a sip of her soda and opened her bag. 

"Really now. And what did Sara have to say?" Catherine asked as she caught a glimpse of Lindsey in her rearview mirror. She had already started on her hamburger and Catherine now took a sip of her soda. 

"Well, she said that she wanted me to give you a message." Lindsay said through a mouth full of burger, "Sara said that she is leaving for a while, and she's not sure when she is going to come back. She said she would have told you, but she didn't want to have to deal with another plant." Catherine came to an intersection at that time, and turned around to look at her daughter. "What?" she asked, "Honey, when did Sara call?"

"Um…" Lindsey scrunched up her nose again, thinking. "About two days ago."

Catherine dropped the drink she was holding and it fell to the back of the car sending coke everywhere. "Lindsey, why didn't you tell my _earlier_?" 

"I'm sorry mommy!" Lindsey pleaded. "I forgot!" 

"Did Sara say anything else?" Catherine asked as she turned off the street towards her house and headed towards the lab. 

"Um, she said 'Bye Lindsey.'" She said trying to help. "Mommy, why are you going to the lab?" Lindsey questioned, noticing the change of scenery. 

"Well, Lindsey, Sara has been out of work for the last three days with a bad cold. Today is Monday, right? And Sara called you Saturday?"

"Yes." Lindsey replied, trying to make sense of the whole situation unfolding. 

"This isn't going to make much sense to you, but Sara was lying about being sick. And knowing Sara, she planed this whole thing out beforehand." Catherine said mumbling the last part. 

She pulled her Tahoe into a parking space and took Lindsey out of the car. The two hurried into the building, and Catherine made her way to the break room where she found Warrick and Greg playing video games. 

"Hey Linds, what a pleasant surprise." Warrick said pausing the game and going over to scoop the girl up into his arms. She giggled. "Catherine, what are you doing here?" he then asked putting her down and setting her at the table with her food. 

"You haven't heard from Sara, have you?" she asked, but didn't wait for a reply. "Greg, watch Lindsey. Warrick, come with me."

Catherine stormed out of the break room, and made her way down towards Grissom's office. 

"Cath, what is this about?" Warrick questioned, grabbing her by the arm and turning her around to face him. 

"Have you seen Sara really at _all_ this week?" she asked, folding her hands across her chest. 

Warrick shook his head. "She's been complaining about not feeling too good, and she hasn't used much of her over time this week. Didn't she go home sick Friday?" 

"I can't believe this. I just can't believe this…" Catherine muttered turning away from Warrick and continuing down the hall. 

"Catherine, what is wrong?" he asked walking briskly beside her. 

"You really want to know? Sara's gone. She called Lindsey Saturday to say that she was leaving. Sara had Saturday off, and then she took Sunday off too. Sara could be anywhere now." Catherine said shaking her head and walking over to Grissom's door. She proceeded to bang on it until he opened it himself. 

"What?" Grissom barked not moving away to let them inside. 

"Sara didn't want another plant." Catherine said narrowing her eyes. "She called Lindsey Friday and told her that."

"Catherine, what are you talking about?" Grissom asked in confusion. 

"Okay, I have an idea. Gris, try paging her." Catherine ordered and pushed him aside and walked over to his desk. She picked up his phone and dialed her pager number. 

"Hey, what's all the commotion about? Catherine, what are you and Lindsey doing here?" Nick asked coming from down the hall and walked over and stood next to Warrick. "What's going on?" 

Catherine looked at the three of them standing there, and waited a second. Then, very faintly a beeping noise went off, and they all looked down to check their pagers. "It's not ours." Catherine stated and slumped down into Grissom's chair. 

"Sara?" Nick queried and turned down the hall to follow the beeping. 

Nick followed the beeping past the break room and then into the locker room, but he didn't find Sara in there. Warrick came up behind him and the two of them scanned the room. "It's coming from in here," he stated. Nick continued to follow the sound. He came to a stop in front of Sara's locker. Slowly, he opened the door to find it empty, except for her pager that sat on the top shelf. 

Warrick sighed.  "Nick, Catherine says that's Sara's gone." 

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"Catherine, you seem to have everything figured out, you explain." Nick moaned burying his head into his hands as he slumped back on the couch. He, Catherine, Warrick, Greg and Grissom all sat in the break room trying to make heads or tails about Sara, and where she was now. Warrick had just tried calling her house and her cell phone. No answer. 

"This week she's spent about half the time she normally spends here; no over time, she's not here early, and did not stay later. She had this whole thing figured out. I've got to say, she's smarter than we all think." Catherine said shaking her head in disbelief. 

"But first, why? Why would she just leave?" Greg asked. Lindsay was sitting in his lap curled up in a ball trying to fall asleep. He was trying to keep his emotions down to a minimum so he wouldn't wake her, but he didn't know how long that would last. 

"I don't know." Catherine whispered looking out over all of them sitting there. Nick looked heartbroken, Warrick looked confused, Greg looked worried, and Grissom? She had no idea what he was thinking. 

But even though Grissom might have had a blank look on his face, it didn't mean that he wasn't thinking intently. No, something that Sara had said was playing like a broken record over and over again in his head_. __I want you to realize…_

"Okay, so Sara slowly starts to disappear by spending less and less time here. If she did it right, we'd never notice." Catherine sighed, "and we didn't. The sad thing is that we call ourselves _investigators_." Catherine stated sounding defeated. 

"Catherine, come on, don't blame ourselves." Warrick said trying to comfort her. He got up and walked over to stand next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "It's not our fault." 

"Yes it is." Nick said from the couch. He looked up at the two of them standing there. "We ignored her. Last week, remember when we were all joking around about that weird case that you two had? We just walked right by her like she didn't exist. God, how many times could we have done that?"  

Grissom took all of this in. …_That one day I'm not going to be here… ___

"But Nick, Sara also brings that on her self." Warrick acknowledged, "She boxes herself in sometimes and doesn't let anyone know what's going on. How are we supposed to know when she wants to be with us and not?"

"Warrick's right." Greg said shifting Lindsay a little, but still not waking her. "I mean, she's an independent person who thrives by doing stuff herself." 

"And how do you know this?" Catherine snapped. 

"She told me." Greg affirmed. "She tells me lots of stuff while waiting for analysis results. _I_ figured out that she was spending less time here, and I'm not even considered an _investigator_." Greg added dryly. 

"Come on, we're not here to fight, we're here to find Sara." Warrick said trying to sound enthusiastic, but it didn't come off as that. 

"And how do we know that she wants to be found?" Nick said softly, as if to himself. 

"When something is lost it is only asking to be found, Nick. Don't worry, okay? This is Sara we are taking about. She couldn't have gone too far." Catherine said trying to reassure him. 

"But how do we know that she is even lost?" Warrick chimed in. "She did this on purpose, even though she did leave without a trace." 

"She's not _lost_, just probably misplaced. Everything adds up Warrick. I think Sara was trying to leave us subtle hints, but we failed to see them. She starts spending less time here, goes home sick, takes an extra day off, calls Lindsey and says that she's leaving…" Catherine trailed off, deep in thought about what to do next. 

_…and you're probably going to wonder why. _We are wondering why, Sara, Grissom thought. The five of them sitting together in the break room looked pretty pathetic; There wasn't any color in any of their faces and their usually happy manners had been turned around to sulks. 

"But why did she leave?" Nick asked once again. 

_It's because of this, Grissom... _

"I know why," Grissom said speaking for the first time. 

_…This 'thing' that you can't deal with_…. 

"She left because of me." 

_And this thing is _me. 

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	6. Part VI

As always, thank you so much for the wonderful reviews. Now, I really was hoping to finish this story before the CSI premier in a mere week, but due to recent events, I don't think I'm going to be able too because I haven't had any time to write. Nothing would make me happier to see people still reading my story, even though we will be supplied with more than enough CSI on Thursdays now. So, enjoy the chapter, and I hope to have the next one up very soon!

*a.l. 

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Airports excited Sara for some reason; so many people bustling about and going every which way. The man who cut in front of her in security she would more than likely never see again, and the woman in the stall next to her in the bathroom might be headed for another country. Airports were all about statistics and odds. Sara had to laugh to herself when she realized that a good fourth of these people would end up dead by the end of next week. It was those kind of odds that kept Sara busy on the flight from Vegas. She had picked up a magazine in one of the shops that included all sorts of interesting information. Grissom would have liked it….

No. Sara was not going to think about him for the next few days. 

Sara made her way off the plane and over to the luggage claim. She didn't have a lot, but she felt awkward not brining a suitcase.  She had packed some of her books and a bunch of CDs to fill up the empty space that her clothing had not taken up. Her laptop had come on as a carry on, and of course she had her purse. But other than that Sara didn't have anything at all. 

She walked through the airport and came to one of the exits and paused for a second. Where was she going to go? Sara thought. The night before Sara had not gotten any sleep but had spent the night away staring at the ceiling trying to figure out where to go. She wanted to go "home," but she wasn't quite sure where that was. Sara was in no mood to go back to California for San Francisco, or to see her parents. They'd just tell her to stop tap-dancing around her problems and to get her life straightened out. And this was coming from two old Hippies. 

But Sara still did not know where to go. She had sat up in bed and looked around the room as if looking for it to giver her clues. Instead her eyes had drifted to the oversized t-shirt she was wearing and she looked down at it. HARVARD started back at her, and suddenly she knew where she wanted to go. 

Boston was a great city. It wasn't anything like Vegas, or San Francisco, and Sara welcomed that change. When she was at Harvard she would travel into the center of the city every weekend for the nightlife, and for the food. She had many good memories of her time there, and she had forgotten most of them by this point. Maybe seeing the city once again would bring those memories back. And she was _definitely_ making her way to Harvard. That was her one true home. 

Sara stepped out of the airport terminal, and walked up to the curb to catch a taxi. There was no way she was going on foot anywhere. One came speeding over to her and screeched to a stop. Sara opened the door and got in. 

"Where to?" the driver grumbled. The car smelled of a mix of smoke and chocolate, and Sara coughed. 

"Uh…Faneuil Hall?" Sara said not really sure if that was where she wanted to go. It was a marketplace in the center of the city, and Sara was hungry. She knew that there would be good food there. 

The driver sped off away from the airport and got on the highway. Sara looked at the city has he drove, and it sure did look different. Construction sites seemed to be everywhere, and the traffic was pretty backed up causing all of the taxis to start honking their horns. Right,_ that_ will do it, Sara thought, get all the cars in front of you to move out of the way by beeping the horn a million times. 

Finally the traffic cleared and the driver made his way to the market place. He pulled right up front and let Sara off after she forked over twenty dollars for the ride. She slammed the door and the taxi immediately pulled back into traffic. 

Sara turned around and looked at the buildings in front of her. Some of the buildings towered over her, while others were barely three stories. People with as many shopping bags as they could carry hurried back and forth, talking into cell phones and taking sips of their coffee. Two clowns stood in the center of a big crowd making balloon animals for little kids who were willing to pay two bucks for one. Ah yes, Sara had missed this place. 

She didn't look too odd weaving though the crowd with her small suitcase and her other belongings. Some people had hung huge backpacks on their backs and they rode around on bicycles, others carried what looked like duffel bags, and some just carried purses that wouldn't even fit a pack of gum. Sara looked practically normal. Her stomach grumbled, and Sara made her way for the Marketplace smack-dab in the center of Faneuil Hall. 

She wasn't even in the door and the smell of cooking food hit her nose. Every nationality seemed to have a fast food place here, and you could always find something to satisfy your appetite. And the desserts, those were a whole different story. 

Sara wasn't in the mood to go wandering around though, and she ended up buying a bagel and a coke and took her food outside. Seeing no available bench to sit, she made herself comfy on the stairs leading up into the Market. No one paid any attention to her sitting there with her luggage to one side and her soda to the other. Sara looked normal compared to some of the other people conjugated here. 

People walked bath and forth, some of them on cell phones, others on bikes, more holding dogs. Sara's years of being CSI had taught her to observe everything around her and take it all in. Sara popped another piece of her bagel into her mouth as two clowns passed carrying a bunch of balloons. Now there's a job for me, Sara thought sarcastically. 

It was starting to get late into the afternoon, and Sara knew she had to find a place to stay for the night. She certainly had enough money to rent a hotel room, but which hotel? There were so many to choose from and Sara knew that some would be better than others, while different ones would be more accommodating to her needs. But what were her needs? Why was she here? Sara rubbed here eyes. Along with everything else she was feeling, she was also really tired. 

A woman dressed smartly came walking by, yelling into her cell pone. "NO! I am not going to settle for less than what we agreed!" she practically screamed. She walked briskly by Sara sitting on the stairs, her eyes just glancing over her quickly. "Tell Mason that if he wants to talk to me…" the woman stopped talking, and turned around to look back in Sara's direction. She lowered her cell phone from her ear. 

"Sara?"

Sara looked up swallowing the last of her bagel. 

"Sara…Sidle?" the woman asked again, shutting her cell phone and walking over towards Sara. Sara didn't know what to do. She looked at the woman, and tried to make some prior connection to how she knew her name. The woman had blonde curly hair and green eyes. She was kind of short, but standing so it made her look three inches taller, not counting her heels. 

"Yes." Sara squeaked out not knowing what else to say. 

"Oh my GOSH!" the woman yelled running over to Sara and throwing her arms around her shoulder pulling Sara in for a hug. Sara, startled as she was, was still trying to make some sort of connection as to who this woman was. Sara looked over at the woman's hand that was now on her shoulder, and noticed an odd looking ring. She had seen that ring before…and suddenly it clicked. 

"Sara, what are you doing here?" the woman asked pulling back from the hug. 

"Becky Tanner." Sara replied smiling. 

"Yes, of course it's me. Who were you expecting?" Becky asked sarcastically. 

"Not you." Sara stated as Becky sat down next to her on the stairs. "I mean, I haven't seen you in –"

"Six years?" Becky finished. "Yah, it's been a while." 

"You came to San Francisco." Sara continued. 

"And I stayed with you for two weeks? Yes, Sara, I remember." Becky pushed a piece of her hair out of her face and turned to look at Sara. 

"What are you doing here?" Becky asked once again. "No, don't tell me," She added quickly seeing tension run across Sara's face. "It's probably one of these weird reasons that I'm not going to get at all." Becky shook her head. "Where are you staying?" 

"Um…" Sara thought for a moment. She was trying to figure that out when Becky interrupted her. 

"You don't have a place set up, do you? God, you haven't changed a bit." Becky stood up and brushed her pants off. "How long are you staying? Oh, that doesn't matter. Sara, you are coming to stay with me and that's an order. Okay?" Becky reached over and grabbed Sara's suitcase. "Come on, my place isn't far from here. I'll interrogate you while we walk." 

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"Forensic scientist? That sounds boring." Becky said rolling her eyes. Her and Sara walked along a side street in Boston that would lead to Becky's apartment. "What ever happened to your job at the coroner's?" 

"Becky, when you were in San Francisco, I was already at the crime lab. Remember? I took you on a tour." Sara said trying to bring back that memory. 

Becky just shook her head.  "Sorry. Drawing a blank."

Sara smiled to herself. She had missed Becky a lot and for a while had totally forgotten about her. In college Becky's dorm room had been right next to Sara, and they would spend late nights just talking or wandering around campus. They didn't have any classes together because Becky was there for the law, and Sara there for the science, but they certainly found time to hang out and have fun. The two of them didn't really have that much in common back then though. Becky had been a party animal while Sara was the obvious bookworm. They balanced each other out though, and the two of them had grown very close.   

When they graduated they went their separate ways, keeping in touch every now and then. Becky had visited Sara in San Francisco once, but other than that they hadn't seen each other. Sara found this time a little awkward because she didn't know what to say to her; someone who had just invited Sara to stay at her house while Sara took her little vacation. 

"So, you've told me that you're now in Vegas after transferring from San Francisco, and you work the night shift. Okay, I get all of that. But why are you _here_ right now instead of _in_ Vegas? What brings you back to Boston?" Becky asked as she turned a corner and began to make her way to one of the towering apartment complexes in front of them. 

Sara gulped. "I need to clear my head."

"From what? All the dead bodies?" Becky asked sarcastically as she pulled out a key and slipped it into the door. 

"To make everything simpler, let's say yes." Sara replied hoping that she subject would be dropped. 

"I know your hiding something," Becky pushed open the door and walked inside to the lobby of the building. "And I'm going to figure out what it is. I'm a lawyer." 

"What makes you think I'm hiding something?" Sara asked as she followed Becky inside and the two of them made their way towards the stairs.

"Sara, I've seen you drunk, okay? You are very bad at lying." Sara made a face at that, but Becky went on. "I might not have known you for all of your life, but I know that you would not just pick up and leave, without notice _or_ booking a room, and travel across the country just to get away from some cadavers." Becky stated plainly. "I am more than happy to let you stay with me, but before our bonding time is over I will know what's up with you."

"What makes you think that something is up?" Sara asked defensively. 

"You look pale. You look like you've lost a lot of weight too. And any other time being in Faneuil Hall, you would have blown fifty bucks already. I don't think something was right in Las Vegas." Becky called over her shoulder as the two of them began to climb the stairs. 

"You must make a great lawyer." 

"If you're in any kind of legal problems, I can help." Becky quipped.

"Well I might be after my boss finds out that I just picked up and left."

Becky stopped on the stairs and turned around to look at Sara. "Out of all of the places you could have gone, you came here, and it's luck that I bumped into you. I've really missed you Sara. I'm glad that you're here." Becky said, and then turned and continued up the stairs. Sara followed her up. 

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	7. Part VII

I am _so_ sorry for my immense lack of updates. My muse and my mojo took a leave of absence, and have finally gotten back form their extended vacation to Disney World (they brought me back a Goofy hat.).

And now I am ready and raring to write once again.  

Since it has been quite a while since you more than likely last read this, here is a quick recap:

_Sara got mad at Grissom. Sara left Vegas. Sara is now in Boston. Everyone else panics. _

Well, that was easy. So, before I waste any more time, let's get on with the story…

*a.l. 

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The tension in Grissom's office was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Everyone in there seemed to be letting off steam that just added to the strain in the room. No one was sitting down - except for Greg who still had Lindsey in his lap - not even Grissom. He stood next to his desk with his eyes closed. He didn't want to look at the scene unraveling in front of him. 

People had begun to stop and stare though the glass into the break room trying to figure out what was happening. Nick had begun to yell at Grissom, and this caused Catherine to yell at him, and Warrick to try and hold her back. Greg and Lindsey sat on the couch, watching in awe at everything happening. Finally Greg suggested that they take this someplace private so no one else would over hear what they were discussing. That was the last thing they needed, someone to make speculations of their own about this newfound problem. 

The five of them (and Lindsey) stalked down the hall and into Grissom's office, where the door was then shut. They stood there in silence for quite a while, each wondering what the other was thinking about, but they all had the same thing on their mind: Sara. 

Every one was too mad to say anything ration at the time. It was as if they all knew that saying something would just outrage the others even more than they already were.  Nick was mad because he hadn't said anything to Sara sooner. Grissom was distressed because he hadn't said anything to Sara after the fact. Catherine was upset because she had ignored Sara a good portion of the time that they were together, and Warrick was disturbed at the fact that Sara would just get up and go so abruptly.  

Greg on the other hand, was troubled at the fact that no one else had noticed Sara's behavior. It wasn't his fault that he was the most observant out of all of them. He had seen her character begin to deteriorate over the last few weeks and then greatly this past week. Greg had just assumed that she was in a spat with Grissom once again, and tried not to give it a second though. But thinking back on that fact, he wished he had. Maybe then Sara would still be here. 

Catherine broke the still silence. "Did she say that she _wasn't_ coming back?" she asked the dimly lit room. 

Lindsey took this as her cue to answer, and shook her head 'no.'

"She could have just left for the weekend." Warrick shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the filing cabinet in Grissom's office. 

"Sara took the weekend off." Grissom whispered as if talking to himself. "She said that she wasn't feeling to good."

"Well of course she wasn't," Nick said, his voice rising a little with every word. "Probably just as much mentally as she was physically."  

"Nick, come on." Catherine said, turning to look at him. "Just, keep your voice down. I don't think anyone else in the lab needs to hear about this right now."

"Well, I'm sorry then, Catherine. But if I seem a little vexed, I am." He said in one short breath, and then folded his hands across his chest. 

Catherine turned away from him and rubbed her forehead, "We're going to need to figure out where she is." 

"Why?" Greg said looking up from Lindsey who was still perched in his lap. "She'll come back sooner or later." 

"_Later_, being the key word." Warrick mumbled.

Greg shot him a look, "This is Sara we are talking about. I think she knows what she's doing. If she doesn't, she would have cracked long ago." 

"There's no internal clock that tells a person when they are going to crack, Greg." Nick shot back, "People just…snap. There's nothing else to it. Everything was building up inside of her, and finally she let it all come pouring out. She had to take her anger out by leaving, but she really doesn't have a clue, Greg. It seems that none of us do." He added softly. 

"So, why didn't she tell us that she was so unhappy?" Catherine ventured.

"She tried to." Grissom replied. 

"Oh, and how do you know this Mr. Social?" Catherine retorted. Grissom remained silent. "See? This is the problem. We all say that she gave us these subtle hints, but did she really? How did we know this was going to happen?" 

"We've got to stop concentrating on the fact that it came to this, but move on to the fact that it _did_ happen. There is nothing else we can do." Warrick stated. "Cause: who knows? But effect: Sara left. So we don't have the whole puzzle together now, we've at least got to finish it." 

"Warrick's right." Catherine sighed. 

"So, what exactly are we supposed to do?" Nick snapped. "Hang up 'Lost' pictures around Vegas to see if any one has seen her? Call the missing person's unit of the FBI? Send out an Amber Alert?"  

"Nick, come on and grow up. Stop making this harder on everyone." Greg said, shifting Lindsey's weight. 

"Well, I'm sorry then. But I think this could have been prevented." 

"But there is nothing we can do now." Grissom said through clenched teeth. " Nick, look, I'm sorry if I was the reason for this – "

"That's a pretty conceited way to look at it Gris." Nick snickered, but Grissom didn't pay any attention to him. 

"But we are not going to solve her problem, which is now _our _problem, by standing around in my office arguing back and forth as to why she left."

Nick opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but he kept it shut instead. 

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Catherine asked, turning to look at Grissom. 

"We've got to piece together the puzzle. Figure out where she is, and get her back."

"I don't think she would have left if she knew what we would do to find her." Greg stated. Everyone turned to look at him. "Let me be frank," he continued, "Sometimes you people don't give her the time of day, but now that she's gone, you're going to drop everything to find her? I just find that slightly hypocritical." Greg scooped Lindsey up into his arms and made his way towards the door. "You'll know where to find us when you have decided how to track her."  Greg and Lindsey left the room without another word to anyone. 

The clicking of the door was heard in place of conversation. No one knew what to say anymore. They had to find Sara, wherever she was. She meant a lot to all of them, more than she probably knew.  They weren't going to let her just pick up and leave without a valid explanation. 

"Now what?" Warrick asked breaking the silence. 

No one replied. 

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"Hey Archie," Greg called as he ran down the hall to catch up to him. Archie turned around. "Can you track this phone number for me?" Greg handed him the slip of paper with Sara's cell phone number on it. 

"This for a case?" Archie questioned sticking the piece of paper into his pocket. 

"Uh, yeah," Greg replied after a moment of hesitation. "Grissom's. He wants to know where this phone was used last." 

"Cell phone?" 

"Yup."

"In the Vegas area?"

Greg wavered for an instant. "We're not sure." He finally said. "Look, if you can even just give me a general area…"

"I thought this was Grissom's case?" Archie asked. 

"Oh, it is. I…uh…I'm finally getting field work." Greg replied tripping over his words.

Archie turned and began to walk down the hall again.  "Well then I'll be sure to find out for you, if it's _your_ case." 

"It's all of our case." Greg muttered, and then turned back to his lab. 

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End file.
